Music of Zero
by 5th Dimension
Summary: Across the spectrum of Louises, some Louises summon something amazing. Some Louises summon something weird. And some Louises summon something so ludicrously insane that they don't know how to deal with it.
1. Chapter 1

Louise's wand hand shook. It was time to do or die. Or… not die, but be sent back home as a failure, which was even worse. _Please…_

"My servant, that exists somewhere in this universe!"

_Please be something that I can show up Kirche with._

"My divine, beautiful, and powerful familiar!"

_Please don't be another explosion._

"I wish and assert from the bottom of my heart…"

_Please show them that I'm not a zero._

"Answer my guidance!"

For a moment, there was nothing. Then there was an explosion. Then, from the dust cloud…

There was music.

"**OOOOOOOOOOOOH YES."**

The music was not like any that Louise had heard. Rather than crisp, serious violins, or a beautiful, light piano, the _noise_ shook the land around her. It did not merely state; it _declared_ its existence without a doubt.

Here was her divine, beautiful, and powerful familiar…

…A tall, bald, shirtless, and _ridiculously_ muscular man wearing strangely rounded, dark spectacles. His torso and arms were thoroughly tattooed with what Louis recognized as musical symbols.

_What._

He looked around for a moment as the music fell, and then his eyes… were _probably _on her. It was hard to tell with his weird spectacles. He grinned. "So it was _you_. And you are…?"

She continued to stare, unspeaking, until whispers started spreading. "Did Louise… just summon a commoner?"

"A really _yummy-looking_ commoner," Louise heard Kirche whisper back.

Familiar, well-learned protocol had her back straighten. It was time to take control of the situation. "I… must have made some mistake. Mr. Colbert, can I do the ritual again?"

Colbert shook his head. "That would be blasphemy against the ritual itself. Whether you like it or not, this… man… is your familiar. Please, finish the ritual."

Louise grimaced, then walked straight up to her new… familiar. He had been idly smiling at her this whole time, and it was beginning to creep her out. Just her luck that she'd get the creepy one. "You. You are lucky. Be thankful, because normally a commoner would never receive this from a noble."

"Oh?"

Louise glared at him for a few moments and then muttered something.

"Hm?" The man leaned forwards a little. "Did you say something?"

"I said kneel down, peasant! How do you think I can complete the ritual with your freakish height?!"

He chuckled and kneeled down. "Very well? And tell me, what are you doing?"

Louise didn't answer. She'd scold him for his impudence later. "Pentagon that rules the five powers, bless this individual and make him my familiar." She kissed him on the mouth quickly, then retreated a few steps.

He looked down at her, seemingly confused, then grabbed his arm. She could see the shape of the familiar runes glowing against his hand, over a tattoo of a few notes in measure. They glowed brightly, then softly, and continued to fluctuate before cooling. When they were done, though, they were barely visible.

Louise shook her head. _It doesn't matter. He's still a commoner. Kirche and the rest won't ever let this go._ Distantly, she heard Colbert call the ritual to an end and the sounds of the other students leaving. It didn't matter. She was going to have to live with this.

"Your name?" the brute asked.

"…Louise de la Valliere."

The small trill of a flute started playing from… _somewhere._ "Nice to meet you. I am The Musician."

She looked up at him. "What musician?"

"_The_ Musician. That is the only name I have ever had and ever will. You may call me Musician."

Louise took an angry step towards him. "If I want to, I will call you dog! I am your master, and you are my familiar! My servant!"

The Musician shrugged and grinned. "As you wish, my Lady."

And though he agreed, Louise couldn't help but feel that he was being impertinent.

* * *

Louise sent him off to do laundry. He stepped out, closed the door, opened the door, and stepped back in. And somehow, _somehow… _in that one second the door was closed, the laundry had become clean. Louise had checked. Double-checked. Triple-checked. The laundry was clean.

She sat on her bed, wearing only her nightgown, looking at the overly-muscled commoner bard in the corner of her room.

Somewhere that she couldn't tell from, a banjo was faintly playing a comedic tune.

None of this made sense.

"…Familiar, get me a new pitcher of water."

"As you wish."

He stepped out, closed the door, opened the door, and stepped back in. And somehow, _somehow_, he had a pitcher in hand.

_HOW?!_

There was no magic that could do that in that amount of time! That's it, she was getting to the bottom of this.

"Familiar, clean the floor! I want it waxed and polished, right now!"

"You got it."

He leaned down and poked the floor, then stood back up.

…

Louise looked down. The floor shined under candlelight. Louise looked down under her bed. Even with the servants periodically cleaning, there was _always_ some hair, or dust, or _something_. But now there wasn't. She touched the floor with her hand. It felt like the top of her dressing table. Like she could write, or even _eat_ on it.

…

"I'm going to bed. You sleep down there." She pointed at the pile of hay next to her bed. "Don't try anything funny."

"I would never dare to sully my Lady in any manner!" Musician declared, sitting cross-legged in the pile of hay.

She wasn't sure what disturbed her more, his apparent abilities, or his obedience. Either way, she didn't get much sleep that night, afraid that he would do something _else_.

The banjo playing merrily in the background didn't help.

* * *

Exhausted and unsettled, Louise sent her familiar outside to eat with the rest of the familiars. In a way, she was glad to see the faces of Tabitha, Kirche, even Guiche. It meant that she could get a small break from _him._

The more she thought about it, the stranger The Musician was. If he was truly a random commoner transported here from the middle of nowhere, why was it that he seemed completely at ease? Wouldn't he have at least asked where he was? Why he was here? Even commoners had to have family, so why hadn't he asked about seeing them?

Yes, it was a commoner's duty to serve the nobility, but she would have expected him to try to rebel in… _any_ way at all. Commoners were sometimes uppity like that. Even since she summoned him, she had come up with plans to keep him under control. She could hardly stand to have a commoner as a familiar, much less one who didn't listen to her.

But he never tried to disobey, escape, or argue with her. Instead, he smiled like a loon and did whatever she asked, all the while some _infernal_ music played from somewhere she couldn't find.

Speaking of music… was that some sort of horn?

Louise rushed outside, finding her familiar standing casually in front of an irate Guiche. "If you want my respect, boy, you're gonna have to earn it."

No.

"Very well," Guiche said, a malicious smile on his face. "I challenge you to a duel. I will be waiting at Vestori Square."

No, no, no.

"See ya there, boy. Make sure not to accidentally cheat on anyone else on the way out." The music punctuated the sentence, the weirdly buzzy horn tooting several times.

She was going to lose her familiar! She was going to lose _the only proof she was even a magician!_

"MUSICIAN!" He turned to look at her. "What. Did. You. DO?!"

"I helped a young lady find her suitor. Turns out he already had one of those. Hope he gets a refund."

Louise stared at him for a moment, before a most-unladylike noise came from her mouth, a mix of a laugh, a snort, and a panicked cry. "Why?" She fell to her knees, uncaring of how her uniform was dirtied. "Why me? Why did I have to get… _you_ as my familiar?"

The Musician only smiled, as he always did. "I did some reading earlier. The familiar fits the mage. You know that, right?"

A violin swelled somewhere in the distance. "Of course I know that!"

"A powerful mage gains a powerful familiar. You've always wanted that, right?"

"How did you-"

"I listened. Musicians have good ears, you know? I know what they call you and what they say about you. And I saw how you reacted. It is obvious you have something to live up to. A legacy? A family name? An idol? It doesn't matter, Louise de la Valliere."

"It… doesn't? Of course it-"

"No. The familiar fits the mage, so the _mage must fit the familiar._ Let me show you just what kind of mage you are, my Lady."

He was mad. He would get himself killed. She would be back to square one… no, square zero. All because her familiar… wanted to show off? No. Wanted her to see what it meant to be the familiar of zero?

All it meant was that her familiar would die.

* * *

"Please do not beg for my sake. You are a noble, my Lady. Please act like one."

Louise temper flared. "Fine! Get yourself killed! See what I care!" She stomped off to the side, but she couldn't just leave. As _absolutely frustrating_ as he was being, she needed to be there, to stop Guiche if he took it too far. She couldn't use magic, but she could do _something._

Oh, who was she kidding. This was only going to end one way.

The Musician stood, hand on one hip and gestured towards Guiche with an axe that she didn't even know he had. "Well?"

Guiche nodded. "The duel has begun." He waved his wand, and a petal struck the floor, creating a creature of brass. "I am named Guiche the Brass. Therefore, a brass golem, a Valkyrie, shall be your opponent."

Musician didn't move. "Cute."

Guiche glared, and then the Valkyrie rushed forwards, striking Musician in the stomach.

Musician still didn't move, to everyone's shock. "My turn? Well then. Let _the __**music play!"**_

The axe came down, a fast and crazy song started playing on invisible instruments, and with a screeching noise Musician cratered the Valkyrie with an audible crunch.

Louise stared.

Guiche stared.

Tabitha stared.

Montmorency stared.

Kirche _stared._

The Musician was dancing, kicking the Valkyrie's remains away while moving his body to the rhythm.

"Oh Founder," Louise said, too embarrassed to watch but too fascinated to look away.

"Oh, _Founder~_," Kirche said, watching as the man's muscles _rippled_.

Musician winked at her then looked back at Guiche, never once staying still. **"Got anything else, boyo?"**

Guiche immediately waved his wand again, summoning _four_ Valkyries. Somehow, though, Louise was sure it wouldn't matter.

She was right.

Gracefully, without hesitation, and _still dancing_, The Musician demolished the golems one-by-one, reducing them to scrap. **"The familiar fits the mage. The mage fits the familiar,"** he said, as if he were merely taking out the trash. **"I am the familiar of Louise de la Valliere. Her equal. Her perfect match. You call her Zero. But if she is nothing, you are less than nothing."**

He decapitated the last golem. **"You fools…"** He slammed his axe into the space next to Guiche's head. **"You don't thi**nk, do you?"

The music steadily faded out, and Musician walked back towards Louise in front of a silent crowd. "Do you see now, my Lady?"

She grabbed him by the wrist and ran towards her room. He smiled all the while.

* * *

"What are you?"

"I beg your pardon, my Lady?"

"You are _not_ human. Are you some sort of mage? That didn't look like magic. Some sort of angel sent from heaven, then?"

He laughed. "No, I'm not an angel."

"Oh, good." Louise was relieved that at least he wasn't anything so ridiculous as that. How could she possibly live up to a familiar of that level of power?

"I'm a god."

…

"What."

He sat down on her bed—the nerve!—and his everpresent smile finally changed to something less damned happy. "Let us start over. I am The Musician, god of music and revelry. And yesterday, I heard someone call across the void between realms for someone 'divine, beautiful, and powerful.' As I meet all three requirements, I came to see you, and here we are!"

She could only stare at him with a mix of exasperation and horror as a ukulele played in the background.

* * *

**A/N: Familiar of Zero is a playground. Anything that can be summoned, will be summoned. Including an overpowered, insane, and bizarre deity OC who usually inhabits a world with characters as powerful as he is. **

**I don't really plan to do anything more with this beyond the one chapter. I just wanted to get the idea out. **


	2. Chapter 2

It couldn't be, Louise thought as she walked up and down the Academy's corridors. It was blasphemy of the highest order. To declare oneself a god was tantamount to accusing the Founder and his people of lying and scamming everyone.

Except the Musician didn't see it that way.

"_I'm not a god of this world. You won't find me in your holy books or your legends. For all I know, your religion is true… only, I am true as well."_

His words had merit, as much as she didn't want to believe it. If every world had its own god, then that meant that someone from the outside wasn't committing blasphemy so much as giving their own account of their world. But the Church would never see it that way. She'd asked him to keep it quiet. And of course, he agreed. He always agreed.

It made no sense at all. Even if she accepted his words, why would a god willingly put himself beneath her? She'd seen the duel. Everyone had. There was nothing that she could say or do to control him. No power that she had over him…

…Except the power he gave her. And wasn't that a frightening thought.

_Is there any other mage who has been afraid of their familiar? _

Though he seemed to have gone out of his way to cheer her up, even before the duel. Telling her again and again that the familiar fit the mage. Saying that she was his equal. She didn't believe it one bit.

God, demon, mage, whatever he was, he was far and above her in every way.

* * *

Louise stormed back to her room from class, muttering under her breath about magic theory and explosions. Musician stayed right beside her, seemingly amused at the whole situation, though he hadn't said a word.

She opened the door and slammed it behind her into his face. Unsurprisingly, it bounced off harmlessly and he followed her in. "Alright, now that we're in private, I have some things to say," he said.

"…" Maybe a few days ago she would've told him to shut up, but she didn't know if she should order a god around.

He just looked at her. "That's your cue to respond, you know."

"Shut up, familiar." Fear, she might not deal with well. Anger? Unwise as it might be, she could do angry.

"No."

Everything stopped. All was silent except for a pulse, a ripple through the floor that beat in time again and again. This was the first time he'd resisted an order, and she had no idea what to do. Almost everything in her told her to submit. That this was an unfathomable being, that he could squish her like a bug as easily as he decimated Guiche's Valkyries.

But a small part of her, what remained of her pride as a Valliere, told her to stand strong. That even if she were to die, she'd die as a noble, and this familiar's _master_.

"Why not?" she asked, her voice teeming with unfulfillable retribution.

"Because I am not your pet. I am your familiar. And it is my responsibility to ensure your wellbeing." He knelt down to her level. "You are my master, and so I will follow your commands. The _one exception_ is when you _need_ something. Then I will do what I must for your sake."

Louise growled. "What do you care?! You have everything, I have nothing! While I work hard to fail as a mage, you are a _god_ and sit around, stupidly grinning and playing that Founder's-damned music without even touching an instrument! The only reason anyone has given me any respect is because of you!"

"I care because I have chosen to care. And you have far more than you think."

Louise flinched and turned away. "No, I don't. All I can do is make explosions. You saw, in class. Even when I summoned you, I made an explosion. Stupid, useless explosions."

"I know a great many people who would love to have even that." Louise looked up at him. "You sell your self short, my Lady. You focus so hard on the things you don't have that you cannot see what you have. Tell me, what is the most obvious quality of an explosion?"

She had no idea what he was getting at. "Smoke?"

"Try again."

"Sound?"

"Closer."

"Music?" she scoffed.

He laughed his short barking laugh. "Well yes, but that wasn't what I was getting at. When you cast your spell in the classroom, what happened to the teacher? What happened to the desk?"

"The professor… went unconscious. And the desk broke into pieces." She looked straight at him. "Destruction?"

From somewhere came triumphant horns. "There we go! Destruction. Explosions obliterate everything. Sure, that's not as useful when you're trying to make gemstones or build a wall, but destruction has quite a few uses itself."

She was skeptical, to say the least. "What would you know?"

Musician's smile grew to touch his ears. The shadows grew darker, and the music grew ever shriller until it was reminiscent of screams. "Musician, god of music, revelry, madness, chaos, and _destruction._ That aspect is well within my domain, _**child**__._"

For a moment, she forgot to breathe. Visions flew past her eyes of houses flying apart, people scattered and broken, entire worlds remade in the image of madness.

"That said," he started, snapping her out of it, "A lack of creativity is only one of your issues, and hardly the most major."

Maybe she had just imagined that terror? "A-and what would the most major be?"

"Your lack of self-confidence."

Louise's temper started coming back up. "Oh? And what could that be caused by? It couldn't possibly be because my magic doesn't work right, I'm one wrong move from being expelled, and my familiar is _a god, could it?!"_

"Let's not forget that you're surrounded by people who hate you."

"_Musician!"_

"Okay, okay." He raised his hands, a contemplative look on his face. "How about I tell you a story."

"What?" Where did that come from?

He ignored her. "A long time ago, there was a boy. His father was a psychopath, and his mother a madwoman. Together, they spent their days using their… sorcery… to terrorize all they could. They did not care about their children. And the boy needed special care. See, ever since he came into the world, he was plagued by music."

"…Music."

"Yes. It played around him all the time, and without love or care, the poor child was driven quite insane.

"But he could do nothing about it. That was the only power he had, to make music play around him. It wasn't something he could control. It wasn't something that he could use. Every day, every waking moment, the music played, keeping him up at night, making it impossible to talk with others, and otherwise making his life a living hell."

Despite herself, Louise found herself asking, "Then what did he do?"

"What else could he do but accept it? _Use_ it? The boy trained, using the music to keep rhythm. He let the music play and let his body dance to it, swinging a simple axe that he stole. And what do you know? When it came time to fight, the fighting style that came from his music was so unpredictable, so hard to fight against, that he defeated all who faced him. That supposedly useless power gave him the strength and skill he needed."

Louise could see what he was trying to say. And if this boy was Musician himself, as she suspected, he was certainly trying to make a greater point. He was saying she could, if she worked hard and played to her strengths, become as a goddess.

She felt a little better, even if she didn't quite believe him. It was certainly nice to have someone _act_ as if she wasn't worthless. So she returned his smile. And pretended to agree.

Even though the bittersweet music playing in the background gave her away.

* * *

"Oh, by the way, this girl is living with us now."

"A servant? A commoner! Living in _my_ room?!"

"Her name's Siesta. Say hi, Siesta."

"H-hi…"

"Why is she here?!"

"Because I felt like it."

"I say no!"

"Just go ahead and unpack your bags, Siesta."

"MUSICIAN!"

* * *

**A/N: Muse won't leave me alone about this. I have other things I could be working on, but no. I wanted this to be a one-chapter dealie, but no. Gotta write more chapters.**

**At least I'm fairly sure this story isn't going to go into the politics and nitty-gritty details of Halkegenia. Restricted to Louise's viewpoint as it is.**


	3. Chapter 3

The nerve of that familiar! Sharing a room with a god was one thing, but with a commoner? Sleeping in the same bed? If word of this ever got out…

"…I _will follow your commands. The _one exception_ is when you _need_ something. Then I will do what I must for your sake."_

"How is this for my sake?!" Louise shouted.

"You may want to be careful, Zero. Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity."

Louise stopped, rigidly _turned_, and looked Kirche right in the eye with all the fury she'd been building up.

"Just saying." Kirche shrugged.

"You do not want to mess with me right now, Zerbst."

"Oh? Zero threatening me? Whatever shall I do?"

Louise pulled out her wand, slowly advancing. "Musician was _right._ Destruction is _useful._"

Kirche blanched. "Um, wait. Louise! I was just joking! No, wait, don't-"

Explosions. Not what Louise wanted, but they were what she had. She supposed that _maybe, _just _maybe_ she could learn to like them.

"Your fault," Tabitha muttered as Kirche was sent flying.

* * *

_/Well you can tell by the way I use my walk,_

_I'm a woman's man, no time to talk…/_

"Musician! Where is that singing coming from?"

He gave a lazy shrug. Siesta merely stared at him as the god danced across the room.

Louise sighed. "How does a man even sing with that high a pitch?"

"Practice," was The Musician's only response. He continued moving in ways that made Louise want to puke at how _unrefined_ it was. And that was despite being the most graceful dance she'd ever seen. His dancing was like somebody using a centuries-old, beautiful, antique violin to play a bawdy tavern song.

"…Guiche came over to talk to me today."

"Oh? Did the boyo say anything interesting?"

_Boyo? _"He was respectful, surprisingly. He reminded me that the familiar exhibition is coming up, and we have nothing to show."

"Familiar exhibition?" Musician asked as he waved his arms like a particularly drunk turkey.

"We show off to other nobles and the Princess herself our bond as familiar and master. It's also a contest."

Musician finally stopped dancing, and the music switched to something more… not obnoxious. Louise wondered how those in the neighboring rooms were dealing with the noise. "How does one win?"

Louise sighed. "Usually, by doing something impressive. Putting on a show."

"Say no more."

"What?" Louise's skin began to crawl.

"I know _exactly_ what we're going to do," he said with a grin.

"No no no, you don't get to decide, _I'm_ the master, and I say-"

He went to the window and opened it. "Don't worry. I got this." He fell out, causing Siesta to scream and run over.

Siesta looked back at Louise, confused. "H-he's gone. W-what… just happened? Where did he go?"

Louise ignored her and quickly put her uniform back on. She was going to hunt her familiar down and put an end to this.

* * *

That was an entire week wasted. Musician hadn't turned up once. Now it was almost her turn at the exhibition, and he _still_ wasn't there?

_Where did he go?_ she wondered as she walked up the steps to the stage.

All of a sudden, lights flashed. Colors flared. And Louise knew, the moment she heard his voice, that this would be one of the worst experiences of her life.

_/Make way, for Valliere_

_Say, hey! It's Valliere…/_

Dancers in skimpy outfits waved ribbons around as she finished ascending. Louise looked out in horror, seeing the Princess. She was never going to live this down.

_/Hey, clear the way, on the wooden stage,_

_Hey you, let us through, it's a bright new mage,_

_Oh come, be the first, of the crowd to meet her eye…/_

Fanfare. As if she was some sort of royalty herself. Forget living this down, she'd be executed for disrespect.

_/Make way! Here she comes!_

_Ring bells, bang the drums,_

_And let all the fanfare fly!_

_It is she! Fabulous she!_

_Louise Valliere…_

_She's got pink hair,_

_And a sure air_

_Of nobility…_

_Now try your best to stay calm._

_Show her your noble aplomb,_

_Then come meet her familiar, that is me!/_

And there he was, dancing his way towards, seeming completely ignorant of the redness of her cheeks. She yelped as he scooped her up and placed her on top of an ornate platform that had somehow been raised in the middle of the stage.

_/For it's she, mighty is she,_

_Louise Valliere…_

_Her explosions,_

_Make mages run,_

_And cry for mommy…_

_She's faced the words and the scorn,_

_Of many mages aboard,_

_Who sent those fools to their lord?_

_Valliere!/_

Dear Founder. She couldn't possibly be blushing any harder right now. He had just taken her most embarrassing shame and turned it into a brag about his master. Wait, she was now wearing a long and flowing dress when she _knew_ she'd been wearing her uniform walking up the stairs. When did he change her clothes? How did he change her clothes?

_/She's got grades as flawless as her beauty…_

_Of her magic, no one else can see,_

_That when it comes to exotic-type powers,_

_Has she got the skills, _

_and the best will, _

_for the strongest abilities!/_

Explosions of light and noise went off around her, and she found her wand in hand, raised to the sky.

_/It is she, beautiful she,_

_Louise Valliere…_

_Look at her face,_

_Her talent and grace,_

_I'm weak at the knee__…/_

He knelt down in front of her in adulation, his tattoos glowing an odd gold-yellow.

_/Well ladies and gentlemen now,_

_Adjust the spectacles on your brow,_

_For one can only say wow!_

_At Valliere…/_

When was it going to end?!

_/She's the best with all magical theory,_

_Her teachers can't even prepare,_

_Of students her name's said with most envy…_

_All know of her fame_

_And her nickname,_

_The Zero and her familiar!/_

He even made her unfortunate nickname sound cool! And what was with all these dancers and confetti and just how far was he going to go?!

_/It is she…_

_It is sheeeee…!_

_It is she! Wonderful she,_

_Louise Valliere!_

_With her power,_

_As summoner,_

_She summoned me,_

_And that good people is why…_

_When an exhibition came by,_

_**I couldn't help but show, all the things I know,**_

_**She would not let me, let the people see,**_

_**Her for she truly is, and I would be remiss,**_

_**Not to mention her modesty,**_

_**It's Louise Valliere!/**_

And just like that, it was over. The crowd was deadly silent, and Louise suddenly remembered that this was _supposed_ to be a simple familiar exhibition. In her sudden panic, she turned to the Princess' chair, only to find Henrietta smiling. And then the Princess started clapping.

Then the next person.

Then the next.

Until the entire audience was cheering and clapping. And Louise's blush came back in full force. She turned to her familiar, not sure what to say.

He only grinned. "Told you I got this."

* * *

**A/N: The genie and Musician are bros in a different life.**

**Also, this website is terrible where special characters are concerned. I wanted to use music note symbols to denote singing. I ended up using / to do so.**


	4. Chapter 4

Their turn at the festival was over, but there were a few others after them. Louise decided she needed time to think, and so master and familiar were heading back towards her room. She'd find out the contest results later.

"You do not do things by half-measures, do you?" she asked.

"Half-measures are for people who can't commit," Musician replied cheerfully.

"…Or those with restraint."

"Tomayto, Tomahto."

"I… what?"

Musician pirouetted around her, walking backwards but seemingly walking forwards. Louise's eyes were unable to understand this, so she didn't bother. "When you have a goal, my lady, why would you ever restrain yourself?"

"Some things are more important than one's own goals." Years of having the Rule of Steel pounded into her brain suggested there was no truer statement than what she just said.

"Who taught you _that_ nonsense?"

Louise gave him a long look. Musician looked genuinely puzzled. Did he not understand this? What kind of god put everything into his desires and cared not for anyone caught up in the mess he left behind?

…Oh Founder, that explained everything. It's not that he didn't know what he was doing. It was that he _didn't care_.

But he was still waiting for an answer, so… "My mother."

"I see." Short. Curt. Just short of a direct insult, with a full implication that he thought poorly of Karin de la Valliere.

_They must never meet._ It'd be like mixing a volcano and a blizzard. No matter who came out on top in that encounter, everyone would lose.

_**BOOM**_

_**BOOM**_

_**BOOM**_

Louise stopped and stared at the giant earth golem trying to punch through one of the academy's walls.

The golem's mage looked at her.

Louise looked right back.

Musician was doing a handstand.

Louise shrugged. "This barely rates as unusual. I blame you, familiar."

"Naturally."

"I'll show you unusual!" the cloaked mage shouted as her golem reached down and grabbed Musician.

"Help I'm being kidnapped," he said in a voice almost as flat as Tabitha's.

"Wh- What do I do?!"

"What do you want to do, my lady?" he asked with his usual smug grin. The golem lifted him up, far away from the ground.

_What do I want to do?_

Did it matter? Obviously, this was an enemy. If she were anyone other than Louise de la Valliere, perhaps she would fight. Her mother would take out this opponent like they were nothing. Kirche would burn through with her usual attitude. Tabitha had aerial mobility and spells many times more powerful than her own. And Musician, of course, was Musician.

Nothing she could do here would matter. And as flippant as she had been, she truly _was_ terrified. If it had been her grabbed instead of Musician, she'd have been…

And then, suddenly, at the thought of her familiar, she had an epiphany. Musician didn't seem distressed. And had he wanted to, he could have just broken out of the stone holding him. He had the strength. She had seen it.

But he hadn't. Which… which meant… what?

_What do you want to do, my lady?_

He _wanted_ to be grabbed? Why?

_When you have a goal, my lady, why would you ever restrain yourself?_

…Because he didn't have a goal. He had no reason to break out. It didn't hurt him. And he didn't know it was something to fight. As much as she had a hard time comprehending him, she had barely explained anything about her world, either. To him this must seem like an owner with their particularly big pet or something. Some kind of reasoning that only made sense because he was Musician.

Yeah. There he was, talking to the enemy as if his master wasn't having a small emotional crisis here on the ground. Typical Musician.

Her annoyance made her decision for her.

_What do I want to do?_

She channeled as much willpower she could into making as much destruction as possible, casting it at the golem's arm with nary a word. The golem's arm exploded into a thousand fragments and the wall it had been pounding on was shredded like paper. The mage seemed stunned, but Louise didn't care. "MUSICIAN!"

He stood up, brushing literal boulders off his shoulders like it was dust. "Yes, my lady?"

"_That_." She pointed. "Is a golem. It is far larger than any _Academy Student_ would make. And all faculty are still at the festival."

"…Okay?"

"_Which means _it's an intruder, you _IDIOT!"_

_I want to tell my familiar off._

"Thank you for this!" The golem-mage shouted, now holding a box as tall as Louise was.

Musician looked from the hole in the Academy to the box. "So it's an intruder. But what do _you_ want to do?"

"I want you to stop her!"

She'd say that a glint appeared in Musician's eyes, but his strange spectacles made seeing his eyes impossible. She could tell that he was excited though, because the music around them was suddenly deep and expectant, as if announcing the oncoming battle. "As you **wish."**

And suddenly, the music took off, and so did he, axe in hand. At a speed even dragons couldn't hope to meet, he was suddenly kicking off the golem's chest, pushing it back several feet. It stabilized quickly, though, and then as the music made the most outrageous noises, the golem counterattacked. Its hand swung from the side this time, and Louise expected it to knock her familiar aside.

Instead, he stopped it. With one hand.

Both Louise and the intruder gaped.

"**You know, I think your statue isn't that strong? You're not pushing its arm. You're just letting its weight do all the work."** He sliced three of its fingers off, and they immediately disintegrated, turning to dirt.

The intruder seemed to recover. "Quite observant of you. But you don't seem to know how an earth mage fights."

The rest of the arm lost cohesion, flowing around Musician's body like a liquid, then solidifying. Almost immediately, Musician burst out, but the arm became as sand again, surrounding him and making it impossible to escape with brute force. The intruder shrugged. "So much for that."

Part of the golem's face exploded, knocking the intruder on her butt. Louise quickly got ready and cast another spell, hitting the golem's shoulder. As expected, the golem's remaining arm came off as well, and Musician rolled out of the rubble. **"Alright! Let's go again!"**

He raised his axe above his head, and the music-note tattoos on his arms glowed yellow-gold, _ripping_ from his body and flowing through the air. He seemed to explode from the ground, colliding axe-first with the golem's leg, which shattered like glass, pieces flying every which way. He quickly turned on his heel and reared his arm back, and Louise suddenly understood his intent.

She blasted destruction at the golem's hip, detaching its leg and knocking it aside. For a moment the torso hung in the air, then Musician's arm came forwards and his axe flew straight towards it.

With a mighty _crack_, the torso was launched backwards into the Academy's outer wall. Louise winced. "Um… is it over?" she called out.

"**It's not the end of the measure yet."**

The golem's remains lurched, then rose from the ground. Rather than a humanoid shape, it had become something more akin to an octopus, with many limbs nimbly moving it and keeping it steady.

"**Nifty."** Musician's axe yanked itself from where it had struck and flew back to its owner, who caught it.

Their enemy was looking rather upset now. She muttered a few incantations, and then the golem rolled forwards in a twister of dirt and rock.

"She's at least Triangle-class…" Louise muttered as she prepared to unleash another spell.

But then, just as it reached her familiar, the golem's core seemed to collapse, burying him. The intruder slid down one of the 'arms' towards Louise herself. "Today's your unlucky day."

Louise cast, but a quickly-raised earth wall took the brunt of the blast, and then Louise was up to her shoulders in dirt, a stone spear about to impale her face. It was sudden, but Louise had more than enough time to realize the gravity of the situation. _I failed. Zero to the end._

And then Musician was there, grabbing hold of the tip of the spear in both hands at the last moment. **"We're near the end, my lady."**

"Quite right," the intruder said. The spear was suddenly lengthened, its blunt end widening until it resembled a nail, and an enormous cylinder formed out of solid stone behind it. With a last incantation, the hammer fell, pounding the spear into Musician, and Musician into the suddenly-crumbling earth beneath them. Louise screamed.

"**Hold onto me, Louise."**

Again, the hammer came down, and Louise grabbed onto Musician as tight as she could, screaming all the while.

"…**Do**n't let go."

Down.

Down.

And down again.

* * *

Louise hadn't fallen unconscious, but her mind had gone empty with sheer terror, and coming out of that felt somewhat like waking up. The first thing she noticed was that she could barely move. The second was that despite being underground, she could see.

She moved her head as much as she could, and saw that the horrible spear had pierced a tattooed shoulder. A glowing, golden liquid flowed like blood from the wound. And Louise couldn't help but think it was all her fault.

_What did she want?_

She hadn't wanted this. "Musician…"

The body pressed against hers, guarding hers, shifted somewhat. "My lady?"

"…Stop that. Don't… don't call me that."

"And why not?"

"I don't deserve to be your master." It was the truth she hadn't wanted to admit to from the moment she found out what he was. He had beaten that golem around like it was nothing. Sometimes, she'd hit it too, but Musician didn't really _need_ her help. And the moment it seemed like they'd won, the intruder had gone after their obvious weakness.

Her.

"I don't think I ever did. I wanted a powerful familiar. I wanted proof that I was a powerful mage. But I'm not. I'm just… a weak, pathetic… _child_ who gets angry too easily. Just for a moment, I thought I could be something… bigger? But you didn't need me. You could've even won if I just… got out of… your way…" Bitter tears ran down her cheeks. "I let the intruder get away. The princess would be ashamed of me. Mother would disown me. And I would deserve it…"

She shuddered, a pit in her gut making this situation all that much worse. It was so cramped in here, and so cold, the earth leeching every bit of heat from her body. There was a wet patch where the golden blood was soaking into her uniform, and it felt like her fear and self-loathing were slowly strangling her, closing her throat tighter and tighter…

"No."

A moment of silence.

"…No?"

"You did what you wanted to do. You fought the villain with me. You didn't just run away and let me do the work. You _helped._"

"But… you got hurt… and… I let her get away…"

"Nonsense. You did what you wanted to do. And I did what _I_ wanted to do."

Silence again.

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why me? Why did you want to… stop me? Save me? You… you're… a god. Strong. You could do whatever you wanted. You didn't have to save me. You could've… let me die, then defeated her."

"Because I want you to live."

"_Why,_ though?"

Musician chuckled. "You summoned me."

"I… I think we both know you could have refused."

"True. Those runes on my arm mean little. But I barely noticed that. You know I'm closely tied to music, yes?"

"Yeah…"

"I hear it, all around me, all the time. It's in the fall of a leaf to the forest floor. It's in the softest of rains…" He tilted his head upwards, seemingly seeing through the earth above them. "It's in each and every star in the night sky. It's in the dance of the planets around the sun." He turned his wrist in a semblance of a gesture. "The whole of reality is one grand symphony that flows through my very soul."

He twisted his wrist back to point at her. "It flows through yours, too. And I hear it."

Louise didn't know what to make of that. "You hear… my soul."

"Every note. Your uncertainty. Your doubt. Your pride and your self-hatred. And even though you might not think it, your hope, too."

"So you know what I'm thinking?"

"No, my lady. I can hear the music you make, a song that tells me nothing except what kind of person you are."

"…"

"And you are beautiful in ways I can barely describe."

Louise chuckled darkly. "Yeah, right."

"Louise, I'm not staying here as some sort of joke. I didn't save you because I thought you were pitiful. If I followed your commands simply because I was summoned, I wouldn't be me."

Something about this struck Louise as true. He… really wasn't here for just _any_ reason. He wanted to be here. "Then… why?"

"It wasn't because I was summoned, but because it was _you_ who summoned me."

Louise coughed suddenly, the tightening of her throat releasing somewhat. Tears ran down her face and she burst out laughing. She didn't quite know why. Her feelings were one big mess. The Rule of Steel fought against her battered pride, and for some reason memories of Cattleya and her kindness came through her head, only to be dismissed by her worst doubts as "Cattleya is kind to everyone."

Musician was here… because of her? Truly? Did she dare hope? Did she dare even believe she had hope left?

Because her feelings were telling her that it was impossible. They cared for her as Louise the Valliere. Louise the student. Louise the daughter. Louise the noble. But no one cared for her as just Louise. No one.

But Musician could… see her? Hear her? Without any of those roles. And he cared. Wanted to stay with her. Help her.

It was too much to believe, but a little part of her did believe him. She loved him for it. She hated him for it. She couldn't handle the way she felt about him and what he said. And all of this was coming from her ridiculous familiar. But if he really, really, _could_ do what he said…

"Can you hear it?"

"Of course."

"Do you… understand? How I feel?"

"…I think I do."

Heh. It was funny, but…

In this moment, there was nothing that mattered more than that.


End file.
